Lil’ Izzah was treated in NICU for 10 days, both for jaundice and intestine infection. And, I missed her so very much during the separation.

The infections could have been caused by any of these actions.

1. doctor at the clinic inserted her unsterilised gloved finger into my baby’s mouth
2. doctor at the clinic gave plain water through an unsterilised picagary
3. hubby gave mineral water (might contain bacteria) through bottle as advised by the doctor
4. me gave some fresh goat’s milk (might not be properly pausterised) through bottle as advised by relatives

You see, as new parents, we received lots of different advises for treating jaundice (sakit kuning).

Thank God, we do not follow the advises of bathing the baby with some kind of leaves or some Chinese yellow herbs water. All these could have cause some kind of skin infection!

So, for all new parents out there, please be strong and RESIST all the temptations to follow any non-medical advises for treating your baby’s jaundice. What works for someone else’s baby doesn’t necessarily will work for your baby.

Furthermore, it could just be a coincidence that giving goat’s milk, lots of plain water, expose to morning sunlight and bath with some type of leaves or Chinese yellow herbs water heal a baby’s jaundice. There is no scientific evidence to proof that they works.

The only SAFE treatment for jaundice is the phototheraphy session. Phototheraphy uses the wave-length of the blue spectrum of light to break down bilirubin molecules, thus helping the immature liver to process the bilirubin faster.

While morning sunlight (also contain the blue-spectrum of light) is traditionally used to treat jaundice, the risk of sunburn due to the depletion of the ozone layer, may cause more harm to your baby than good.

So, learn from our mistake. Get the proper medical treatment immediately.

You see, all these non-medical advises could actually complicate the jaundice. And, as in our case, caused infection and days of anxiety too!

I was quite worried of bringing my baby to the crowded place full with mostly sick people. That germ infested area could cause infection.

As I sat waiting on a chair, my husband brought our lil’ baby to the lab. Luckily, the lab guy was so expert in taking my baby’s blood. It was a quick procedure and my baby didn’t even cry. And, he only took a small sample (a few drops) of blood for the test.

Compared that with what the doctor at Klinik Puteri Anwar has done to my baby. She took two small tubes of my baby’s blood because she said the machine couldn’t give a reading if the amount was too little. Huh!

Anyway, lil’ baby’s bilirubin level has increased from 213 to 244.

We were asked to come again the next day for a repeat blood test. Before going back, we undressed my baby and exposed her to the morning sunlight for a few minutes. My baby appeared to be very skinny compared to the first few days after birth.

She started to regurgitate milk seconds after her feeding that midday. And, that night she regurgitated/vomitted yellowish/brownish milk through her mouth and nose!

I was so terribly worried. Furthermore, her stool has turned from yellowish green to brownish red. Was she having a diarrhoea (cirit birit)?

On 8th April 2008, we went to the Klinik Kesihatan Sungai Buloh again for the repeat blood test.

My baby’s jaundince has increased from 244 to 278! But, the nurse just asked us to come again the next day for repeat test. What? How many times do you want to poke my baby for her blood? Urgh!!

We brought my baby home. And, I noticed she was becoming more lethargic, slow to feed and not sucking as strongly as before. She rejected both my nipple and my EBM.

My lil’ baby also was also not active and was very sleepy.

We quickly brought her to Selangor Medical Center that afternoon. She has not taken her feed since morning but still regurgitated the yellowish milk from her stomach.

Turned out that she has lost weight from 2.47 to 2.06 kg. That was 13% and absolutely not normal.

Her paed, Dr Ling quickly arranged for admission to NICU for double phototheraphy session. And, put a tube through her nose to her stomach to feed her and see her tolerance.

However, I was told that my baby’s stomach still rejected the milk given through the tube. Looked like a possible intestine infection. So, Dr Ling put her on an IV drip.

I was feeling so terrible about the infection.

You see, the jaundice can be treated by photheraphy session. But, the infection? Some antibiotics, perhaps.

Oh dear baby….

I was still very tired from the operation and not fully recover - body and soul. Therefore, I couldn’t control myself and cried while packing our stuff.

It was 4 pm and the guests were supposed to come by 4.30 pm. My hubby made a quick call to all of them and told about our situation. Except for my brother who was already approaching our house, all the others made a u-turn back upon hearing the news.

We headed to the emergency section of Hospital Sungai Buloh. I held my baby and was pushed on a wheel chair because I still couldn’t walk far (and fast enough).

By 6 pm, me and my baby were admitted into the NICU. I almost cry again when we passed through the critical unit of the NICU. Some babies in incubators were crying so intensely while some monitoring machines were beeping non-stop.

All these made me so very heart-broken.

My baby’s blood was taken again for testing the bilirubin level. Oh.. poor little baby.

I needed to be admitted together with my baby in a mother’s room (bilik ibu) whereby there was a bed for me to sleep. My baby was put in a wheel bassinet under a blue photo lamp just next to my bed.

I was taught how to do the phototheraphy session and was told to breastfeed often. Babies undergoing phototheraphy are easily dehydrate so mothers must breastfeed them at least once in 2 hours.

This is my first baby so I was still not confident in breastfeeding. Furthermore, my baby couldn’t latch properly and my milk was so little.

So, I was so afraid that I couldn’t go through the night alone taking care of my baby. That made my heart sunk.

There were other mothers with babies there. They also were required to take care of their babies themselves too. And, many babies that were put under the blue phototheraphy lamp were mostly crying.

My husband left and I tried to control myself but couldn’t help but cried my heart out.

Anyway, I undressed my lil’ baby and put her under the lamp. Her whole body especially the feet and hands shivered from cold. Argh… that made my heart sunk further.

After a few minutes under the lamp, a nurse came over. Guess what?

The latest blood test showed the jaundice of my baby was only 213 instead of 296. According to her, below 240 is not required to undergo the phototheraphy session. So, we were allowed to go back that night at 9.30 pm!

However, I was required to bring my baby to Klinik Kesihatan Sungai Buloh for bilirubin level test again the next monday (7th April 2008).

note: a paper cover is put on the eyes to protect from the blue light

The 6th day after lil’ Izzah was born (5th April 2008), our brothers and sisters were coming to our little cottage in the afternoon. They wanted to see the newborn princess.

My mother cooked some fried mee and some keropok for the guests. I was excited to show-off my lovely baby to them.

However, around 11 am, a nurse from the nearby Klinik Desa came to check on me and my baby.

She removed her cloth and then observed her face and upper torso in natural light (near the sliding door). The nurse gently pressed her finger on the baby’s cheek, release and noted the color of her skin.

It was a deep yellow. And, she said my baby was having a sign of physical jaundice. We were asked to bring the baby to any clinic for bilirubin blood test.

You see, jaundice is the result of raised level of bilirubin - a yellow pigment byproduct caused by the breaking down of red blood cells. The excessive buildup of bilirubin in the blood happens because baby’s liver is still immature and unable to clear the bilirubin fast enough in the day following birth.

My hubby quickly brought me and my baby to Klinik Puteri Anwar nearby. The doctor checked my lil’ baby and took some blood from her vein.

At first she tried poking a needle to a vein in my baby’s little hand. And, pressed the hand to get some blood in a small tube.

But, the doctor seemed not so expert in doing that. So, she poked another needle to my baby’s heel. My baby was crying and kicking like crazy. And, I was getting a headache seeing my baby like that.

Because my baby was crying non-stop, the doctor inserted her gloved finger in my baby’s mouth!

She was not supposed to do that!!!

She then give my baby some water through picagary. And, also advised us to give the little baby lots of water to reduce the jaundice. Hah?

But the nurses at Hospital Sungai Buloh were against giving water to newborn babies. Breastmilk has all the nutritions that my baby needs, they said.

At 3 pm, the doctor called us and told that the bilirubin level was 296. And, that was considered very high. She referred my baby to Hospital Sungai Buloh.

My husband was very disturbed and quickly asked me to get all the things ready for admission into the hospital (ah.. again?).

The operation room have lights that were so bright. And, it was extremely cold! My whole body was shaken violently due to the cold air-conditioned room.

There were so many people in the operation room (nurses and three specialist doctors). I remember one young Chinese lady doctor who was so bubbly and friendly. And, one young Malay guy surgeon who was rather handsome…ha ha ha!

They asked me to extend both hands for administering blood, IV, general anasthesia, oxytoxin etc.

The Chinese surgeon put on oxygen mask and asked me to breath in and out. The Malay doctor informed me that they want to start the operation and gave the general anasthesia (one big picagari of white fluid injected through blood vein of my right hand).

And, I passed out after just three seconds!

The operation lasted for 3 hours.

Around, 11.00am, I woke up when the Malay guy doctor said “Bangun, sudah siap!”

My head feel so giddy that I uncontrollably shaked my head violently. I felt the cold again but heard the Malay doctor asked the nurses to warm me up. They put a kind of pink heatable blanket on me.

The Chinese doctor have a look at my incision and said “Tengok, kerja siapa ni”. I saw her unstripped the plaster, sprayed something and put it on again.

I said “ouch!” and saw her smiled.

Then I heard one nurse said “Baby apa ye? Ooh, girl”. So, it is a girl!!

Seconds later, I saw an empty oxytoxin bag and second pint of blood. I could feel pain at my incision. I was then,

•  moved from operation room bed to trolley bed (felt pain at incision)
• moved from trolley bed to another trolley bed
•  moved from trolley bed to ward 6B bed (no 15 - in front of nurses counter)

My head still feel so giddy but I was so happy to see my hubby by my side!

They gave me morphine injection pain-killer once in 4 hours. No food and liquid intake was allowed for 6 hours after operation. My throat felt so dry!

My lil’ baby was born @ 9.21 am on 31st March 2008 at 34 weeks gestational age. Her apgar scor was 7/9 and weight 2.47 kg. She is such a strong, active, healthy and happy baby.

The doctor who performed the operation was Dr Khairul Safwati bt Muda of Hospital Sungai Buloh. Thanks doc!!

Throughout the birthing of my baby, I stayed calm and relax. This must be due to the HypnoBirthing breathing and relaxation techniques that I have been practising since 17 weeks of pregnancy.

Having taken HypnoBirthing The Mongan Method classes gave me a confidence to go through the birthing of my baby. Eventhough it was not a normal, drug-free birth, my baby is still a happy HypnoBirthing baby!!